Dimyana’s father speaks to Watani:

“My daughter never disdained Islam”, said Ebied Abdel-Nour; the father of the Coptic teacher Dimyana Ebied who was last week accused of contempt of Islam and who was last

Tuesday released on EGP20,000 bail after an order to be held in custody for 15 days pending investigations.

Nour told Watani that his daughter Dimyana, who is a teacher at the village primary school of Hager al-Udaisat in Luxor, Upper Egypt, was targeted by the Islamists. “Dimyana teaches in three primary schools and none of them ever complained against her. She taught the lesson on ‘Religious Life in Egypt’ in all three schools and was only accused of disdaining in the school of Nag al-Sheikh Sultan school.” He said that his daughter knows very well the Egyptian customs and traditions, and can never do such thing.

Only three out of 43 children testified against Dimyana, her father said. “Is it reasonable,” he said, “to ignore the testimony of 40 children and acknowledge those of only three? The school principle said that Dimyana is one of the best teachers and that she did never do such thing.”

Nour said the families of the three children who testified against his daughter were willing to withdraw the repioorts they have filed against her, but that the local Islamists are pressuring them not to.

According to Nour, Dimyana is feeling depressed and is refusing to talk to the media. He said the EGP20,000 bail sum was too exaggerated and disproportionate with the charges against her; it the sum imposed on those accused of drug trafficking, he said.